Weapons of Choice

Axis of Time, Book 1

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 20 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

The impossible has spawned the unthinkable. In 2021, a quantum military experiment goes horrifically wrong. A multinational taskforce of ultra-modern warships is suddenly transported back in time to 1942...right into the path of the U.S. naval battle group bound for Midway Atoll.

History is rewritten in an instant as the future smashes into the past, and high-tech hardware goes head to head with World War Two technology. In the chaos that ensues, thousands are killed, but the maelstrom has only just begun. The veterans of Pearl Harbor have never seen a helicopter, or a cruise missile - let alone nanotechnology, ceramic bullets, and F22 Raptor stealth jetfighters.

Allied and Axis forces are then caught in a desperate struggle to gain the upper hand - each hoping to tip the balance with a fist full of 21st-century firepower. What happens next is anybody's guess - and everybody's nightmare.

Listen to the entire Axis of Time trilogy.

©2005 John Birmingham (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

If you really want lefty politics rammed down your throat?

One example: at one point a female reporter with no back story of military training other than that she was embedded once in the Middle East saves a 6’4” Marine by diving at a Japanese soldier, knocking him down and, while flying over him, she shoots him 3 times with an MP-4.
Ship after ship in U S Navy not only have female Captains, but they are all outstanding AND insightful.
The story is occasionally interesting, but ALLWAYs we have to be told how WW2 men are Neanderthals. It really gets old after a while. My father fought in the South Pacific in WW2, had 2 ships sunk under him by kamikazes, and treated all women as if they were royalty to his dying day. This book sullies the memories of all those warriors.

Save Yourself

I finished this book, just so I could write a review, my first. This book sucks. It takes a great idea, and much like Chunk from the Goonies, fumbles it and watches it shatter on the floor. That characters, of which there are legion, are completely unforgettable. None of them stand out in any way from the rest. It's like getting a box of crayons and seeing they're all beige. The plot ping pongs around, only to setup shop in the most desolate of entertainment ghettos. Please, save yourself, and skip this lame book.

The story line is a political stretch

What was most disappointing about John Birmingham’s story?

The story keeps digging into politics. I don't think the author understands American politics. I can handle the worm hole story in the plot but too unbelievable was an aircraft carrier named after Hillary Clinton and a flag officer stating that the military loved Hillary Clinton. The author keeps banging a drumb about race relations, that in 2021 magically all of the race issues that the U.S. Struggles with are resolved. If the author had brought his political and race agenda up only a dozen times per chapter, I might have been able to continue with the book. The politics just destroyed the book for me. Bottom line, a worm hole to the past is far more believable than the authors vision of American politics and Americas racial problems.

Interesting concept, poor final product

I wanted to like this book but I can't get past the representation that everyone from 1942 is a vicious, hateful racist and sexist. I'm sure there were plenty who were, but it gets in the way of the interesting concept of "what if?". Every single character from 1942 is predictably militantly and violently bigoted.

don't waste your time..

What was most disappointing about John Birmingham’s story?

This book is not a military / sci fi novel it is almost exclusively a worthless treatise on political correctness. If you don't have the same liberal opinion as the author he will obviously just consider you a racist / sexist idiot. Very sad the story could have been great. I listened to the first two parts and didn't even finish the third. Taylor Anderson or John Ringo he is NOT!

Have you listened to any of Jay Snyder’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

very good performance

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Weapons of Choice?

All scenes that try to reflect so negatively on our greatest generation.

Could not even finish it

Nice try. The concept was very similar to the final countdown, but the author went ahead and ruined the story by adding in all his left leaning social and political opinions, which turns me off. I dont think every white person fighting in world war 2 was a biggoted narrow minded racist, or all sounded like goober from the andy griffith show. Its a shame, as it could have been a good book.

Just awful.

too much political correctness, USS Hillary Clinton??Barf!I want my money back!!!My Ears burn! Uggg! Uggg!

Excellent Alternate History

I really enjoyed the premise of this book and rank the storytelling right up there with Jack Campbell's "Lost Fleet Series" in the intensity of the action and portrayal of characters.

There may be too much gratuitous sex sprinkled throughout though. I really don't need to know about Beria getting ready to masturbate to pornography while talking to Stalin (book 3). And way too much with Slim Jim.

Worth the credits.

You Lost Me at USS Hillary Clinton

Would you try another book from John Birmingham and/or Jay Snyder?

Nope.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Head shaker.

Any additional comments?

I couldn't finish this book. Birmingham is trying so hard to be like Clancy that it was just too much. Besides that, we run across a ship named "USS Hillary Clinton" very early in the book. No thanks. You only name ships in honor of something(person, place, event). It's insulting to say the least especially her attitude towards the Benghazi killings. There is nothing honorable about the Clintons, especially Hillary. Seven to eight years after the book is published, her true colors are revealed. I may try again someday, but this one just isn't for me.

Great premise, poor execution

Premise had all kinds of potential, but the author was never able to deliver. Dialogue between characters made me cringe, their actions and choices were almost as bad, and the events in the story too far-fetched to accept (outside the time/dimension travel). I'm usually not this critical, but I'm really disappointed with this book. It should have been better!